NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Four men have been charged with intimidating witnesses in an Ultra-Orthodox sex abuse case involving a spiritual adviser accused of molesting a teenage girl for years, according to prosecutors.

The men apparently tried to bribe the boyfriend of the young accuser with $500,000 in an attempt to get the alleged victim to drop the charges against Rabbi Nechemya Weberman or move to Israel, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Thursday.

The men pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges including witness intimidation and coercion. The district attorney said it’s the first prosecution in 20 years in which defendants are charged with intimidating witnesses in a sex abuse case.

Bail has been set at $75,000 for Abraham Rubin and $5,000 for brothers Jacob, Joseph and Hertzka Berger.

“They all deny the allegations. They are obviously going to be fighting these charges vehemently,” Bruce Wenger, Hertzka Berger’s attorney, told CBS 2’s John Slattery.

Weberman, 53, is accused of raping and abusing the girl for nearly three years starting when she was 12 years old. The girl is now 17.

Weberman has pleaded not guilty to committing a criminal sex act, rape, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse.

Last month in Williamsburg, supporters of Weberman ralled to raise funds for his legal defense. With charges now against four supporters, attorney Michael Farkas told CBS 2’s Slattery, “Mr Weberman had no prior knowledge of or involvement with these deplorable acts, which, if proven to be true, are reprehensible.”